Muv-Luv Unlimited: Steel Knights
by Sgt. NoOb
Summary: "No aircraft ever took and held ground."


**Muv-Luv Unlimited: Steel Knights**

**AD1985 December 19th, Northern section of Sevenoaks, Great Britain, European continent**

**Afternoon 14 34**

The sunlight of the day did nothing to alleviate his fears. Nor did the seemingly clear view of the streets, the flattened, snow-covered buildings all around, his eleven other companions scattered in groups of three all around the streets, the open radio link with another two companies of infantrymen… in fact, none of the things he had helped to assuage his fear.

Even his form, wrapped in a Fortified Suit, a marvel of engineering designed for maximum protection and minimum weight, covered by a Feedback Protector unit designed to boost his armour, reaction and hearing, did not provide him any sense of security. Nor did the two tons of composite titanium armour in the form of the Castle Mk. II Combat Exoskeleton, wrapped and formed around his body, moved by superconducting bands of carbonic actuators capable of a reaction counted in the tenths of a second, give his paranoia any relief.

He swallowed, checked his sensors, and saddled up to a corner of the street with a largely intact wall. All around him, the terrain mapping sensors displayed a cluster of yellow-tinged outlines, the chaotic surroundings playing havoc with the shape-mapping sensors.

"God damn, Cherry, calm down, your vitals are jumping all over the place." Lieutenant Bryne's voice cut in, his face appearing on the heads-up display of Cherry's suit. The platoon leader's visage was barely illuminated by a pale blue light, courtesy of the Castle Mk. II's vision projectors in its frontal headgear cover. "You just took a relaxing agent 30 minutes ago, didn't you?"

When Cherry stammered, Bryne narrowed his eyes. "You did do as I ordered, right?"

"Y-Yes sir," Cherry replied. "Used the normal two doses as ordered, sir."

"Then settle your mind down," Bryne replied. "I don't want to run the risk of giving you another dose and turning you into a blabbering hippie when the Warriors show up."

At this, Cherry swallowed. Warriors – Warrior-class BETA, one of the many different strains of the enigmatic alien race that had landed on Earth over a decade ago, were ridiculously fast and strong even with their single arm. Getting engaged by one was a moderate danger, two was cutting it close to the Styx if he didn't have backup. If he had been a normal infantryman, he would have shot himself at the sight of a Warrior-class.

Then again, if he were an infantryman, he would be waiting in the rearguard, surrounded by at least a good five hundred to one or two thousand of his mates, waiting for the mechanized infantry to cover the front grounds.

Join the mechanized infantry, they had said. Less risk than a Surface Pilot, more welfare than the tankies and infantryman, they had said.

He would have joined the Navy, but his father had died on a battleship lasered full of holes during combat operations off the coast of Norway. Even so, he still wondered what had possessed him to reason that an armoured trooper would be any better.

A voice spoke up. "What's the matter?" Staff Sergeant Catlin asked. "Cherryboy's vitals are unusually high."

"Nothing much," Bryne replied. "How are things on your end, Tempest Two?"

"Silent. I don't like it very much."

"Noted. Tempest Three?"

"'Thought I saw a Soldier-class... it turned out to be some really funky remains of a mannequin in some sorry remains of a shop. It's the kind of shop where they-"

Bryne arched an eyebrow at the last statement. "Nevermind what kind. Anyways, things are about to get a bit more interesting at this point." One steel vice raised itself up, the armoured exoskeleton moving in mimicry to Bryne's own left hand; the other gestured at Cherry and the other soldier standing beside him, and they both turned to look in the direction where Bryne had indicated. "Looks like the town has a couple of surviving buildings."

"Do we meet up before proceeding?" Catlin asked.

"No need for that. We'll continue as four fireteams. Clear the areas that you need to, and be careful of ambushes. The Battle of London didn't wash out everything."

"Aye, sir," three voices replied.

Bryne reached back to tap Cherry in the chest. "I want you on rearguard. Keep your eyes open and your hearing sharp."

Cherry nodded. "Right, sir."

The third soldier in their fireteam passed Cherry. "You okay?"

"Yeah, mostly fine."

Sergeant Lancaster took up position to the right and rear of Bryne. On top of her own Castle Mk. II, the M85L2 machinegun rotated on its gun mount, while the ten-shot grenade launcher mounted on the left of her armoured exoskeleton tilted slightly. Carried in her hands was an SA-80; she had detached her armour's main arms from motion control, and the titanium vices on their ends opened and slammed shut as the exoskeleton read her brainwaves to transmit the desired motion to her exoskeleton system.

"Don't lose your nerve, now," Lancaster said. "Just a few more hours and we can retire for the night."

"Y-Yeah," Cherry replied.

Concrete crunched as the three Castles entered a large, three-story building. The invasion of Britain had been so swift that both evacuation and defence was a miracle, not a possibility; as the BETA charged across the land many towns that weren't outright flattened were invaded by hordes of smaller BETA strains that had massacred the civilians living within. These smaller strains were now left behind, infesting the towns and cities that they had taken over.

They could either wait the week-long grace period for all the BETA in the area to disappear, as was the often-observed norm during the retreat from Europe for the past decade, or clean out the infestation themselves. Considering how the British Government wanted to re-establish defensive lines over the British Channel rather than on British land, that left them very few options.

Cherry often wondered why the grace period was one week, and all he had ever gotten for that was that the BETA seem to get their energy from something other than eating. No one ever saw or knew how, though.

There was, however, another reason for their presence here in the middle of ruins. With the early warning sensors gone and the European Union armed forces depleted, nothing was stopping the BETA from invading the UK again. Even after the Defence of Britain, the BETA had continued small-scale incursions, and there was no way for the EU fleet to check if they had gotten all of them while they crossed the British Channel. With the TSF forces of the EU spread thin and their logistics in shambles, it was impossible for them to scramble with immediate notice.

_I guess you could say we're the makeshift early warning sensors_, Cherry mused.

The Castles fanned out, each facing a general direction of their own. Many of the corridors branching into the interior of the building were in poor condition and dark; the entire place gave off a feeling of having been ravaged by something otherworldly; shattered glass decorated the wooden floor and dark stains patterned the surface. Wires of all lengths were strewn everywhere, adding to the foreboding atmosphere of the interior. "Seems silent." Lancaster remarked.

"Looks like it," Bryne said. "We'll patrol the ground floor in its entirety, wait a while for a reaction. Those second and third levels don't look too solid for exoskeletons to me. We'll split up to cover the front lobby first, then meet up and clear the building interior room by room. I've already called Tempest Four; his team's path is close enough to ours to divert for a while. I don't feel safe entering the bowels of this place with just the three of us."

"Aye sir," Cherry and Lancaster replied.

Cherry wandered off to the left of the room, from the entrance, as Lancaster moved over to the reception desk. "Ugh," she said, stepping away. "That has got to be the record for most unrecognizable human corpse ever."

"What does it look like?" Bryne asked.

"More… torn, than bitten off." Lancaster replied. "Looks a lot like Warriors' work to me."

Cherry stopped short in front of a shut door. "Warriors," he mumbled.

"Well, the corpse is at least three to four weeks old, judging by how long it took for us to drive the BETA out from London." The M85L2 swivelled to face Lancaster's rear as she checked her SA-80 and slapped its magazine. "I doubt anything's still in here…"

Cherry made an incoherent noise that sounded like "maybes" and turned back to the door. He tested the lock; it was shut, clearly locked from the inside. Well, just one more knock or two to affirm-

The doorknob shook.

As one, Lancaster and Bryne turned to look at Cherry, the mounted weapons on the Castles swinging to point at the door; Lancaster raised her SA-80, and Bryne readied his. "'The bloody hell was that?" Bryne asked.

"I don't know, sir, it wasn't me!" Cherry said, taking a step back. "Maybe some survivors shut themselves inside and just heard us-"

"The BETA passed through here a month ago," Bryne said, his voice low and strained. "They have had plenty of time to double back on things that they've previously ign-"

A white, snake-like object ending in three appendages burst from the wooden door, grasping wildly at Cherry. Screaming, the armoured trooper fell back, the rear of the two-tonne machine making a dent in the floor of the building as Bryne cursed, and his suit's own M85L2 opened up in a burst of fire.

The wooden door immediately shattered under the hail of 12.7mm rounds as the Warrior-class behind was pulped. By the time Bryne ended his three-second burst, all that was left of the door were free-swinging fragments left on the hinges and the echoes of the machinegun's roar.

As Cherry picked himself up, his breathing still ragged, a low guttural sound echoed in the air.

"Shite," Lancaster said. "Great flaming balls of shite."

Almost as if triggered by a switch, BETA came flooding out into the hallways and air vents; Soldier-class streaming out of every possible opening, mixed amongst them Warrior-classes. As soon as they stepped out of the mess, the Warriors began exhibiting the agility they were famous for; one of them leapt straight at Lancaster, dodging the first swing of her Castle's right arm before she filled its face with several 5.56mm NATO rounds. Tucking the assault rifle under one arm, she pulled a fresh magazine from a storage compartment, readying for a reload. "Sir!"

"I know!" Bryne replied. "Cherry, get your ass on the streets! We'll cover you first!"

Cherry barely heard the last order as his exoskeleton quickly stepped backwards, crashing through the metals frame remains of the building's front doors. Missing a step, he tumbled and slipped, the impact leaving a gouge in the already well-abused marble concrete stairs.

"Cherry!" Lancaster shouted. "I need some covering fire!"

"R-Right!" Cherry said, the M85L2 on his Castle moving in response to his neural commands. The machinegun roared, spitting out 12.7mm rounds at the horde as Lancaster and Bryne retreated backwards.

A loud siren that blasted into Cherry's ears and a red arrow obstructing his vision caused him to look up. Several Warrior-class dropped from the building's top, two of them landing on Lancaster's Castle Mk. II and causing her to stumble. The M85L2 swivelled to shoot one of them off, but the remaining Warrior-class wrenched the entire turret off before Bryne shot it off her.

Emptying the last of her SA-80's 5.56mm rounds into a Soldier that was a hair's breath away from eating her arm, Lancaster stood her ground. "Grenade!"

The Castle Mk. II's grenade launcher fired two fragmentation grenades into the midst of the horde, the devices exploding seconds later. Having thinned most of the numbers out, the three armoured troopers continued firing. "Boosters on!" Bryne ordered. "We'll engage them from the rooftops!"

The three armoured troopers fired up the booster units on their Castle Mk. IIs, the thrust lifting them into the sky. Landing on the third level of the blasted remnants of a roofless building, the troopers continued firing into the horde that followed them.

"Cherry, take out your SA-80 and target the Warrior-class first!" Lancaster shouted. The muzzle of her SA-80 continued to flash as she fired in bursts into the wave of enemies headed their way. "Those guys don't need to climb stairs to get at us!"

"I'm trying, I'm trying!" Cherry said, his eyes trying to pick out the Warriors as he set the rifle into the hollow of his shoulder. "Blasted things, the closer ones keep jumping around! Why aren't they marching in the streets anyways?! This isn't a leftover crowd, this looks like a fresh incursion!"

"Beats me!" Lancaster replied. "But I'm willing to bet that whatever attracted them into that building aren't as tasty as all the electronics and flesh we've got in this suit!"

Bryne was firing into the crowd, his Castle's M85L2 almost going fully automatic; the grenade launcher on the exoskeleton fired another three high-explosive munitions into the horde, making mincemeat out of several dozen aliens. "Tempest One to Hurricane, can you read me? Tempest One to Hurricane! I have a Code 991 in Sevenoaks, I repeat, a Code 991 in Sevenoaks!"

The voice of the command post came in a second later. "Hurricane to Tempest One, I read you. The 4th Infantry Regiment is readying for combat now. Command has decided to send the No. 92 Armor Squadron and a squadron from West Germany's JA71 Battalion to support your area in four minutes. Disengage if you can, and gather up your men; don't face them alone."

"Roger that," Bryne replied. "Listen up! We're disengaging from h-"

Several Warrior-class jumped over the jagged edges of the building and onto the third level, their arms reaching out for the troopers; one of them grappled with Cherry, who was busy flailing his arms madly to prevent it from getting a purchase on his Feedback Protector. If he was pulled out now-

Faster than Cherry's sight could register, Lancaster's Castle had punched the one aiming for her back to where it came from and grabbed Cherry's assailant with its left arm vice; Cherry's impending scream died in his throat as the Warrior-class that had been so close to his face moments ago was pulled off.

"Scum!" Lancaster roared, as she slammed the creature onto the ground and stamped on its head before the Warrior could scramble to get back on its feet, spraying alien material everywhere. Blowing another Soldier-class off the edge of the building with a backhand sweep, she emptied her store of grenades into the crowd.

Beside her, Bryne held a Warrior-class by its trunk-like arm and shot it with his SA-80 before tossing the thing back down. As the explosions claimed another chunk of the horde, the thrusters on Bryne's Castle Mk. II ignited. "Get your ass moving, Cherry!" he hollered. "I won't be wading back into this tide of mottled shite if you get caught!"

Despite what Bryne had said, his unit was the last to take off, his Castle's M85L2 expending the last of its 1500 rounds of 12.7mm NATO rounds as the heavy armoured trooper lifted off the ground.

Cherry was watching what happened next as though everything happened in slow-motion; a Warrior-class leapt out at them, just barely grabbing onto the leg unit of Lancaster's Castle Mk. II, the Warrior-class slowed down her ascent long enough for another warrior to grab on.

Then another.

Then two more.

Screaming, Lancaster plummeted back to the ground, the momentum bringing the entire trooper through the concrete roof of the building that was their islands in a sea of alien creatures.

Both Bryne and Cherry landed; the horde was no longer chasing them. "Dammit!" Bryne cursed. "Cherry, engage their rear and draw them off-"

Cherry shoved his commanding officer aside as he ignited the boosters on his Castle Mk. II again. The boosted jump carried him straight into the wall of the building, the weight and momentum causing him to crash through the brick walls. "Arseholes!" he screamed, swinging wildly, the blows tossing Soldier-class BETA left and right in large chunks of dismembered flesh.

One of the Warrior-class jumped onto his Castle, wrenching off its protective head cover; Cherry barely pulled it off in time before it wrenched his head off, holding the alien with both of the exoskeleton's arms as he pulled it apart. "Not in a million years, shitestain!"

It didn't take more than an instant to pick out Lancaster in the dusty gloom of the building; she had been pulled out of her Castle Mk. II quickly enough, although by how she was slumped against a wall a distance away from her exoskeleton, a combat knife drenched in blood still clenched tight in her hands, she hadn't went quietly at all. Shattered and dented pieces of her Feedback Interface's chestplate were strewn all over, and dull places in her Fortified Suit's front covering indicated where the material had been overtaxed by repeated impacts.

"Lancaster! Sheryl! C'mon, Sheryl, wake up, we gotta get the h-"

Cherry's exoskeleton tumbled forward as the power to all systems was cut; only one arm, frozen in position had prevented Cherry from being trapped in a complete vulnerable position. Crawling out of the disabled machine, its armour plating and wires pulled off by Warrior-classes that had swarmed his from the back, he drew his combat knife and tucked his SA-80 under one arm as the Soldiers and Warriors closed in on him.

The first Warrior-class leapt out at him, its swipe tearing off his headpiece. Shooting the alien in its torso before rushing forward to plunge his combat knife into it, a second Warrior-class leapt at him, and Cherry was almost sure this would be it, when Bryne's Castle Mk. II came crashing down directly from above, squashing the alien as the exoskeleton turned and swung out at its enemies, rewarding those it caught in its reach with a bone-smashing impact. "Bloody idiot!" he shouted. "I appreciate your intentions, but the BETA go after live prey! Catching their attention is enough, fool, I didn't need you to charge in like a boar with a dart in its arse!"

"Sorry, sir," Cherry said, firing at a Warrior-class that got too close. Smoke rolled off the SA-80 as the last round found home amongst its friends in the Warrior's head.

"But still, that's a good face you got on there, kid," Bryne said, a half-grin on his face, his exoskeleton backing into a corner alongside Cherry. "How? You've calmed down enough?"

Cherry was surprised at his own calmness. Here he was in an enclosed area, a wall of BETA between him and a clear route, with one team member down and another out of ammo, and his own exoskeleton inoperable. Nothing beat the real experience, after all. "Yeah, sir."

"Good," Bryne said. "Let's get straight to business then."

The BETA closed in on them, and both men roared and charged.

Or at least, Cherry tried to. The next thing he knew, Bryne had scooped him up, punched a hole in the opposing wall and tossed him through. Grabbing Lancaster by her armoured arm, he threw her through as well, and his Castle Mk. II blocked off Cherry's view as it stood in front of the hole.

"Shite-No, don't do it!" Cherry tried to shove the unconscious Lancaster off him, dread gripping his heart. "SIR!"

"Of course not, shitehead," Bryne said. "Now you just take Lancaster and-"

A voice interrupted them. "Tempest Four here, get the hell out of the way!"

Staff Sergeant Catlin's voice was next.

"DEEP STRIKING, ALIEN FILTH!" she yelled, the mirth in her tone clearly evident, as nine Castle Mk. IIs crashed onto the already-crumbling building. Such was the cramped interior that some of them had to make do and crashed into walls instead, completely flattening the place.

Cherry shielded his face as chunks of plaster and bricks hurled themselves at his body, even with an entire exoskeleton shielding him, as the nine Castle Mk. IIs made short work of the BETA horde that had troubled Bryne, Lancaster and Cherry.

As Cherry listened in amazement at the sounds of slaughter that transmitted in, Sheryl Lancaster woke up.

"Cherry."

Cherry directed his sight downwards, where Sheryl stared at him with a heated expression. It took him another heartbeat to find the problem's source.

Cherry felt the cold touch of metal and barely let go of Sheryl before his hands froze from fear. Despite her wince, she propped herself up with her free hand. "Would you rather I do you in," she asked, her eyes narrowing, her fingers pressing the combat knife against his cheek, "or I toss you back out there?"

**AD1985 December 19th, Outskirts of northern section of Sevenoaks Temporary 4th Regiment Field Command and Holding Camp, Great Britain, European continent**

**Evening 18 21**

Second Lieutenant Gabriel Bryne approached the huddled form of Cherry as he watched the city outskirts. Within, small fires burned as West Germany TSF-4Es and British F-5E IDS Tornados of the No. 92 Squadron hunted down the last of the BETA that had escaped the EU's interception net two days ago out on the coast of Dover. Thankfully, it had been a relatively small force; a total of eleven thousand creatures total, most of them Warrior- and Soldier-class, and the rest composed of the Tank-class that had escaped the killing fields at Dover.

"Army coffee, Cherry?" Bryne asked, waving the half-filled metal mug in front of the young man. "Well, I don't think you need to be called Cherry any longer. The rest of the platoon thinks so too. That little stint in combat did more for you than years of training ever could."

The young Sergeant accepted the officer's gesture, and scratched the back of his head. "Thanks, sir." He took a sip of the bland liquid, letting the warmth sink into his body. "How's Lancaster doing?"

Bryne grinned and clapped a hand on the young man's back, barely suppressing the laughter that threatened to erupt out of his throat. "What an appropriate question, Sergeant Alastor," he said, turning to leave. "Perhaps she can tell you more."

Alastor froze as Sheryl hobbled out from behind Bryne. "Well, toodles," Bryne said, walking off. Alastor pretended not to hear the whoops that disappeared into the night as Sheryl joined his side.

"…"

"…"

"… …"

"… …"

_Dammit_, Alastor cursed. Clearing his throat, he turned to Sheryl. "H-How are your wounds?"

"Nothing much," Sheryl icily replied. "A mild concussion, a half-dozen broken ribs and a lung with minor punctures from bone fragments. Some internal abdomen bleeding, but nothing like a burst gallbladder."

The silence settled back again, Alastor shuffling uncomfortably, until Sheryl sudden spoke up. "I wonder what Folkestone looks like now, Ray."

Ray Alastor was silent for a moment.

"I don't know, Sheryl. I don't know."

"Maybe next year… maybe…" Sheryl said as she leaned against him. "Why did you come after me anyways? You used to be such a crybaby, you even told me you'll be willing to take on any task but serve as a frontline soldier on the ground."

"I don't know. I should be asking why this was the place where I found you instead. You always said you wanted to be a botanist, to find out how to quickly fill Europe back with green again."

Ray was silent for a while. "For the same reason as you joining up, I guess."

Sheryl sighed, although her mouth curved in a small smile. "You've changed, Ray. You've changed alot."

Ray smirked. "I could say the same to you. Mrs. Lancaster would be mortified to hear you speak now."

The two childhood friends continued watching the fires as Sheryl fell asleep, the combat stimulants having worn off.

Ray set her lying down, and continued watching as the F-4Es and F-5Es finally took off into the night, their work done. Tomorrow, the 4th Regiment would attempt to enter the city again and hopefully, in a few weeks, clear the entire place so that the engineer corps could come in and re-fortify the area with seismic sensors and BETA detectors.

"We'll see the seaside again one day," Ray whispered, as he watched the TSFs fly off. "This time, from our seaside house."


End file.
